Henry Ford’s Hemp Plastic Car is 10X Stronger

henry ford hemp carThe Sleuth Journal – by Joe Martino

When we think of cars we think of gasoline, steel, pollution, etc. Well, maybe you don’t, but that’s what comes to mind for me. Even though we have some innovative and visually pleasing cars on the road today, it is difficult to ignore the sheer environmental impact that modern cars create. What if cars didn’t have to be the way they are today? If you are a researcher of any kind of alternative information, you already know this to be true -especially given that the technology already exists today to make cars smarter, safer and more eco-friendly (no fossil fuels necessary.) But did you know that Henry Ford spent more than a decade researching and building his Model-T car which was not only constructed from hemp but was also designed to run off hemp bio-fuel? Whatever happened to this idea?  

According to Popular Mechanics, Henry Ford’s first Model-T was built to run on hemp gasoline and the CAR ITSELF WAS CONSTRUCTED FROM HEMP! On his large estate, Ford was photographed among his hemp fields. The car, ‘grown from the soil,’ had hemp plastic panels whose impact strength was 10 times stronger than steel.

To think that even one of the founders of a major car manufacturer was trying to give the world a vehicle that was safe, strong and clean for the environment, yet his invention was so suppressed that it is somewhat disheartening. How did we go from such an obvious and intelligent discovery, to using gasoline, steel and other non-harmonious materials? It’s important to remember, not only do we need to look at the pollution factor of a material while in use, but also in the manufacturing and creation of it from raw materials. Looking at hemp, it complies with every eco-standard that exists today; in fact, it blows them out of the water. The suppression of this technology is largely due to the fact that hemp was outlawed in the US in 1937 due to the potential damaging effect it would have on many powerful industries at the time. I highly recommend you check out the the full story on how hemp became illegal to get a better understanding.

Here are a couple of videos showing the sheer strength of Ford’s hemp vehicle as well as the possibility of hemp based vehicles and fuels. Hemp has a bright future. The prohibition of it certainly won’t last forever given the amount of awareness being raised around the subject.

10 thoughts on “Henry Ford’s Hemp Plastic Car is 10X Stronger

  1. This is my kind of car as it should be everybodies kind of car. Just think it doesn`t even get rusty. Bet that this car would drive those damned dope dogs crazy LOL 🙂

  2. Digger, you got to my punch line before I could write this – I wanted to park a couple of these cars in the San Ysidro/Tiajauna crossing lineup

  3. Whatever happened to this idea? Probably buried like all the other great ideas for alternative “anything” because the “big boys” felt threatened.

    . . .

    1. LOL, Cheech and Chong let the secret out in their movie ” Up In Smoke”, I think that was the one when they had a box van made entirely out of Herb. 🙂 But, seriously though, I think #1 is right @ 9:56 when he says “steel and oil happened”

      1. Speaking of movies, digger, I’m off to see “Paranoia”, with Liam Hemsworth (Red Dawn), Gary Oldman (the quintessential bad guy), and Harrison (never makes a bad movie) Ford.

        Should be good. Back in a few hours.

  4. Not everyone totally forgot it, Reliant did try some hemp in its mixes on some of its three wheelers as well as other materials trying to find that nirvana of strength that steel provided but without the weight. Bond, another three wheeler company also used hempen fibre mixed in with its glass fibres and a big flat plate of it was what the front wheel/steering assy was bolted too so had some strength.

    I actually own a Reliant 3 wheel Robin MKII and I cannot praise the car enough, its only a little 850cc engine but can go up to 90mph, is exceptionally cheap to maintain, returns anything up to 75mpg and can seat four people in relative comfort but sadly foregoing the usual creature comforts like electric windows and air conditioning that we see as standard on modern cars, a close comparison would be a three wheeled pre BMW Mini although the 4 wheeled version the Kitten didn’t sell so well but are sought by the tuners who put in enormous motorbike engines or American V8’s for phenomenal 1/4 mile speed times.

    Unfortunately, the Reliant 3 wheelers are all but illegal in the US, a real shame as they are absolutely brilliant to drive and crash fatalities with these cars seems to be non existent here in the UK which might be something to do with the huge 6 inch solid steel bar behind the dashboard and the solid upright bars that support the A and B pillars. The European Insurers Association I think it was noted the Reliant three wheeler drivers as the safest in Europe too.

    One could hope the three wheeler would live again, perhaps with Kevlar available too for adding as a layer in GRP, coupled with hemp mix, we could see cars becoming more crash resistant than the weak and poorly made things of today or maybe do as Citroen did and replace non essential non load bearing panels with panels made from this stuff and another mention for Reliant who designed the MGF roadster as a replacement initially for its Scimitar but also sold many of its designs to Citroen which became the Citroen BX and XM.

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